REPORT: Leyton Orient 0-1 Newport County AFC

Leyton Orient began their home League Two campaign with a 1-0 loss to Newport County AFC.

Despite dominating the game in almost every area, Jamie Turley’s first half strike saw the O’s slip to defeat.

Orient made five changes from the side which lost 3-2 in the EFL Cup to Fulham in midweek with Dean Cox and Paul McCallum both starting following their positive impact off the bench, while Alex Cisak, Sean Clohessy and Tom Parkes returned to the starting line-up.

It was positive start from the hosts and Sean Clohessy’s teasing delivery was just cleared by the visitors before some neat build-up saw Cox play in Gavin Massey, only for the Exiles defence to deal with the ball in.

After a slow start the Welsh side worked their way into the game and after Sean Rigg dispossessed Sandro Semedo he managed to cut inside and drill a shot just off target, before the O’s failed to clear their lines on the 10-minute mark and once again the ball fell to Rigg, only to flash an effort over the bar.

Following the bright opening the game went through a quiet spell as chances became a premium, that was however until the visitors took the lead.

Mark Randall’s corner was flicked on by Marlon Jackson and Jamie Turley was there at the back post to tuck home from an acute angle.

That woke the hosts up and Orient immediately went in search of an equaliser, seeing skipper Robbie Weir and Cox firing just over in the space of a two minutes.

No changes were made by either side at the break, but Orient started on top and had penalty appeals waved away in the opening minute of the second period when Kelly went down.

A lovely through ball then found Palmer who took one touch to control the ball before seeing his effort blocked by an Exiles defender.

Orient remained on top and once again Palmer almost reaped the rewards for never giving up as he dispossessed an Exiles defender before squaring for the onrushing Liam Kelly, but once again the O’s were denied by a visitor getting in a last-ditch block.

The hosts spent the bulk of the second half on top, but were unable to force Joe Day into a save, and it was the O’s who presented Newport with their first chance of the half on 63 minutes.

A poor pass from Kelly was intercepted by Rigg who ran through on goal. Seeing his initial shot saved, the ball fell to Myrie-Williams invitingly, however, he blazed it high over the bar.

Harry Cornick and Nigel Atangana were brought on with little over quarter of an hour remaining, and both almost made an instant impact.

The Frenchman saw a shot deflected behind for a corner, before the Bournemouth loanee ran in from the right only to see his shot blocked once again by a stubborn Exiles defence.

As the game entered the final 10 minutes, Orient remained in the ascendancy. Cornick’s corner was headed on by both Parkes and Bowery before the ball was only half cleared to Palmer and he subsequently headed over the bar.

The hosts kept on knocking on the door, but were unable to find the killer instinct in front of goal. Eighty-four minutes had passed when a peach of a delivery from Semedo down the left found an unmarked Palmer in the box, however, the effort was over the bar.

Time continued to tick away and on the stroke of 90 minutes some nice play from the O’s saw the ball fall to Kelly just outside the box, and he fired goalwards first time only to see the effort fall just wide of the target.

That proved to be the O’s final chance of the game, and with it saw them slip to defeat ahead of Tuesday’s home game with Stevenage.